R (on the application of A) v Ealing London Borough Council (2015) QBD (Admin) (Patterson J) 16/12/2015 (Not on Bailii yet, note on lawtel) Back in August, Ealing's allocation policy was found to be unlawful in HA, R (On the Application Of) v London Borough...
Bedroom farce
Mr Jones: [...] We want housing association landlords and tenants to reap the benefits from shorter-term tenancies as well. However, we clearly need to consider any changes to housing associations in the light of the recent decision of the Office for...
Not far enough on the naughty step?
Along with Ben Reeve Lewis, who as a former Tenancy Relations Officer really knows, we have long had a bee in our various bonnets about fines for illegal eviction levied by the Magistrates Court on prosecutions brought by local authorities. And so to Sead...
Disrepair miscellany: Good, bad and ugly.
Perhaps illustrating the need for the Court of Appeal to deliver the judgment in Moorjani (see preceding post), the December 2015 issue of Legal Action has Beatrice Prevatt's excellent annual 'housing repairs update'. We have covered many of the cases...
Repairing the caselaw on disrepair
I don't think it is unfair to say that disrepair is not always viewed with great enthuiasm by practioners of housing law. So, I am going to plead with you all to stick with this post of mine even though on reflection it is far longer than I would have liked....
The law of unintended consequences (or, why everyone needs a housing lawyer)
As you might have noticed, the Housing and Planning Bill had its last day in Committee today in the House of Commons. It was the 15th and 16th (penultimate and final, respectively) sessions. Surely, you might think, this would be the fag-end of the Bill....
Leasehold disputes and costs
Leasehold disputes, like any litigation, are capable of generating significant legal and other professional costs. The position is generally better for freeholders/third party managers than it is for leaseholders in that a well-drafted lease will usually...
I saw a mouse. Where?…
A semi-guest note on a pest infestation nuisance county court case involving leaseholders. Interesting on both liability and quantum. Ojo & Ojo v London Borough of Hackney. County Court at Clerkenwell & Shoreditch 4 November 2015 The Claimants were...
Possession claims by trustee in bankruptcy
Garwood v Bolter & Anor (2015) Ch D 18 November 2015 (Not on BAILII. Note of extempore judgment on Lawtel) I'm working off the lawtel note, which in some (many) respects doesn't entirely make sense. I'll try to flag the bits where I am 'interpreting'....
On having a petard and being hoist by it
Toogood v McCourt and others Medway County Court, 6 November 2015 Mr Toogood is a landlord of some 200 properties and runs the Student Lettings Agency in Canterbury. The Defendants were the parents (and guarantors) of three students of five who had had...
Deposits, dog hairs, doors and defamation
Owens & Anor v Grose & Anor [2015] EWHC 839 (QB) As if tenancy deposits weren't complicated enough, now we can add libel claims to the consequences of a heated deposit dispute. It turns out that sending potentially libellous accusations to the...
Eviction and High Court Enforcement
A couple of recent cases have highlighted the issues involved in transferring County Court possession orders to the High Court for enforcement by High Court Enforcement Officers. This is done by landlords, by and large, to bypass the wait for a county court...